Transparent loose-leaf binder



P 6, 1949- s. 1.. GQLDMAN TRANSPARENT LOOSE-LEAF BINDER Filed July 3, 1948 INVENTOR SANFORD L GOLDMAN IZTORNEYZ Patented Sept. 6, 1949 UNITED? STATES PATENT OFFICE TRANSPARENT LOOSE-LEAF BINDER Sanford L. Goldman, Long Beach, N. Y.

Application July 3, 1948, Serial No. 36,854

2 Claims. 1

My present invention relates generally to loose leaf binders, and more particularly to transparent loose leaf binders of simple, unique and artistic constructions.

It is an important object of my present invention to provide a loose leaf binder having a transparent front cover, the binding section of the front cover being so constructed and arranged that suitable fastener or similar securing devices are not visible from the outer face .of the cover.

Another important object of my present invention is to provide a novel binding edge for a transparent front cover; the edge being characterized by its inclusion of a folded paper strip which simultaneously functions as an indicator and as a concealing element for the fastening devices.

Another object of my invention is to provide a loose leaf binder composed of a transparent front cover and a respective rear cover, the front cover having fastening devices secured along the binding edge thereof, and said fastening devices being hidden from view at the outer face of the front cover by a simple folded paper strip adapted to display predetermined indicia.

Still other features and objects of my invention will best be understood by reference to the following description and to the accompanying drawing which discloses a preferred embodiment of the transparent loose leaf binder, it being understood, however, that the description and drawings are to be considered as illustrative of the invention and not in limitation thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the binder as viewed from the external face .of the front cover,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the front cover as seen from the inner face thereof, the rear cover being removed,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rear cover as seen from the inner face thereof,

Fig. 4 is an end view of the front and rear covers prior to joining them,

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the front cover as seen from the outer face, the concealing strip being lifted to show the fastening elements,

Fig. 6 is a section taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5 looking in the direction .of the arrows, and

Fig. 7 is a fragment of the front cover as seen from the inner face thereof, the fastener being of a modified form.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters in the several figures denote similar elements, I have shown in Fig. 1 the loose leaf binder as seen from the outer face of front cover I. The cover I is generally a transparent flexible plastic sheet of rectangular configuration. The material of the sheet may be any suitable and well known plastic such as cellophane, Celluloid and the like. The sheet thickness should be sufficient to provide ample cover body. For example, the sheeting may be about 4 of an inch. The left edge 2 of sheet I is the fold or crease line of the rectangular flap or section 3. There is visible in Fig. 1 the upper section 4 of the folded strip 5 which is sandwiched between flap 3 and the left side of sheet I.

The flap 3 is provided by folding a narrow rectangular section of the left side of sheet l towards the inner face of the sheet. The fold or crease line 2 is made permanent in any suitable manner, as by pressure and heat. There is now provided a pocket into which may be sandwiched the folded strip 5. The strip 5 may be made of paper, relatively stiff cloth .or the like. As seen from Figs. 5 and 6 the unfolded strip 5 is rectangular and of the same length as the flap 3. The width of strip 5 is twice that of flap 3. Generally it is desirable to use paper for strip 5, and the paper thickness will be substantially less than the thickness of sheet I. It is to be understood that all dimensions herein are purely illustrative, and do not restrict this invention.

The vertical fold line B divides the strip 5 into equal upper section 4 and lower section 1. The lower section I is secured to the inner face of flap 3, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. The spaced conventional eyelets or grommets 8, 9 and ill secure the paper section I to the flap 3. These eyelets, as shown in Fig. 6, are of the well known form, and are rings with upper and lower ends crimped over. Of course, the flap 3 and contacting section 1 will be provided with respective registered holes to receive the eyelets. In Fig. 5 the eyelets 8 and 9 are seen through the cover I, the upper section 4 having been unfolded to permit the eyelets to be seen. In eyelet Ill, however, there is shown the head ll of a suitable fastener. When the section 4 is restored to its folded position, as shown in Fig. 1, the eyelets and respective fastener heads cannot be seen due to the concealment by section 4.

The upper face of section 4 is provided with indicia l2 whereby the section 4 concurrently functions as an indicator or index device. The indicia may be related in any desired manner to the nature of the leaves to be secured between the binder covers. In Fig. 4 there is depicted the sandwiched position of folded strip 5 between flap 3 and sheet I. The .open side of the folded strip is adjacent crease 2, while fold line B is in alignment with the free edge of flap 3. Due to the relative stiffness of flap 3 the folded strip is rather snugly retained in its sandwiched state. The fastener heads and eyelets resting on section 1 are, in turn, sandwiched between sections 1 and 4. The section 4 presses down on the respective fastener heads II.

To insert the usual type of headed fasteners in the respective eyelets, it is only necessary to pry the flap 3 and sheet I apart thereby to permit the concealment and index section 4 to be unfolded (Fig. 5). The fasteners may now be inserted so that the heads ll will rest on the eyelets, and the legs will project from the eyelets in flap 3. In Fig. 2 the pair of legs of each fastener is denoted by the numeral [3, and the legs are shown spread apart.

There may be used, if desired, a different type of fastener device which is known. In this type of fastener, illustrated in Fig. 7, the eyelets are provided with a pair of fastener legs. There is no need to insert into the eyelet the usual headed fastener. It is to be understood that the specific combined grommet and fastener shown in Fig. 7 is no part of my invention. This figure is provided to show that my invention is not restricted to the specific fastener, ll, l3. Fig. '7 shows the lower left corner of the cover of Fig. 2 for simplicity. The grommet or eyelet I0 is provided with a pair of projecting superposed legs I3.

The rear cover of my binder is shown in Fig. 3, the inner face being shown. The cover 20, which may be made of paper or plastic material, has the same dimensions as front cover I. The folded flap 2|, of a width substantially equal to the width of flap 3, is provided with spaced apertures adapted to receive the legs (13 or l3) of each respective fastener.

The manner of using the present binder will be clear from the above description. The binding edges of leaves to be fastened between the covers I and 20 will be provided with spaced apertures to receive the fastener legs. The sheets are then positioned in place against the inner face of front cover I. The apertures 22 of the rear cover 20 are now located on the respective fasteners. The front cover, as seen at Fig. 1, is neat and shows no sign of the fastener construction. The indicia 14 12 on the visible face of section 4 indicates the material between the covers.

What I claim is:

1. A transparent front cover for a loose leaf binder, comprising a relatively stifi plastic sheet, a narrow rectangular strip of the sheet being folded against the inner face to provide a permanently creased relatively stiff flap, biased to said face, a separate rectangular strip of paper folded to provide a pair of equal sections of substantially the same dimensions as said flap, the open side of the folded strip being located adjacent said crease, said strip having its fold line spaced from the crease, said folded strip being snugly sandwiched between the creased biased flap and said inner face whereby it is necessary to pry the biased flap and sheet apart to permit said strip to be unfolded, spaced eyelets securing the lower section of the folded strip to said flap, the upper second section of the folded strip being snugly retained in folded state between the inner face of the sheet and said lower section of the strip, the visible face of said upper second section being provided with indicia, said eyelets having fastener devices respectively associated therewith, and said upper paper section effectively concealing the spaced eyelets from view.

2. In combination with a front cover as defined in claim 1, a rear cover consisting of a sheet and folded binding flap of the same dimensions as the front cover sheet and its flap, said rear cover flap being provided with spaced apertures respectively corresponding to the eyelets thereby to permit said fastener devices to be secured to respective apertures.

SANFORD L. GOLDMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,964,851 Hopkins July 3, 1934 2,248,582 Phillips July 8, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 103,261 Great Britain 1917 

